Gaming machines providing wagering base games such as electronically driven video slots, video poker, video blackjack, video keno, video bingo, video pachinko, video lottery, and mechanically driven spinning reel slots, etc., are well known in the gaming industry. Generally gaming machines are configured to operate as “stand-alone” units (that may or may not be coupled to a backroom computer) where the outcome of game play is “locally determined”, or as part of a server-based gaming network where the outcome of game play may be either locally determined or “centrally determined”. For example, a gaming machine located in a bar, a convenience store, a riverboat, or an airplane, may operate as a stand-alone unit, while a gaming machine located in a traditional casino may operate as part of a server-based gaming network within the casino.
Mechanical spinning reel slot machines have maintained their popularity evolving from gaming machines which employ electromechanical control to the more modern day gaming machines which employ micro-processor control. In a modem mechanical spinning reel slot machine, mechanical spinning reels are used to display combinations of reel symbols, which in conjunction with pay line selections, visually notify a game player if he/she has won or lost the slot base game played entirely in controller or computer memory according to rules and math models embedded in a computer program. A modem gaming machine providing video base wagering games (e.g., video poker, video blackjack, video keno, video bingo, video pachinko, video lottery, and the like) is similar to the mechanical spinning reel slot machine in terms of its embedded computer program and operation, however, simulated video images of reels, pay lines, cards, number, etc. are provided by a video display. The video display may be implemented via any type of suitable display, for example, it may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or a plasma display.
Recently, secondary or bonus games have been used in conjunction with base games to increase or enhance player enjoyment and therefore encourage game play on the modem gaming machines. Bonus games, however, are triggered by various events during base game play and once the bonus game is triggered, base game play stops and the bonus game begins. The player cannot “store” bonus games for later game play and therefore has little control over when the bonus game is played.
A bonus game may require a player to play a version of the base wagering game or to play a different wagering game offered by the gaming machine. The player of the bonus game may or may not be awarded additional credits. For example, a mechanical spinning reel slot machine can be configured with a bonus game awarding free spins to a player and may therefore be played like the base game. The free spin however, may result in a non-winning symbol combination and therefore the player is not awarded additional credits. In addition, a complex bonus game that differs from its associated base game may require that the player quickly learn new game skills to play the bonus game, thereby changing the rhythm of game play for the player.